Skygaurd needs a BUFF...

The Skyguard needs to be able to take on Liberators on a 1v1 basis. It is THE dedicated Anti-Aircraft Vehicle, yet it takes 2-3 to even get a single Liberator down.

Actually... One skyguard should be more than enough for 5 ESFs... Focus on one at a time, take them out one at a time. They get beyond your range, reload, switch to another, drive to cover that gives you an advantage (trees for example). Hell, I was a lone Burster MAX in a infantry line walking 400 meters between bases and I was deterring 4 ESFs and a lib by myself before I got lolpodded by them all at the same time...

If they all focus on you at the same time, yeah that's gonna wreck you and it should. But if you move while they come at you and use terrain to your advantage, you should be able to deter if not kill them.

For example, one comes at you from the left. You know he's got your side, but you also know of a rock near you. Make your way to that rock while shooting at the plane and force them to stop shooting as you take cover. The rock is now between you and the ESF. Since they have to fly over the rock and can't line up a shot, that gives you the advantage and lets you light them up from behind and under them. Slowing down to hover and take shots at you means sure death for them as you can take them out faster than they can take you out.

Then you repair as you can. Invest in fire suppression and IR smoke. Immediate health boost when on fire and the smoke makes for a perfect shot a lot harder. Though you can still be hit by that blast radius.

Most importantly, never chase them down unless you know you're in a safe area.

Skyguard is just a bad idea. No matter how much it is buffed it will just die very quickly to some of the weapons air units have and if air is not there enough you are stuck in the most boring role in the game. Maybe skyguard was a fun thing in original planetside but it shouldn't be in this game and better infantry AA options are currently needed.

Pulling a Sklyguard probably wouldn't suck so much, if the Lightning had a secondary weapon, that way I could pull Dedicated AA without giving up my ability against other threats.

But as it is right now, for a vehicle that sacrifices its chances against anything on the ground, it does poorly against the Air.
Skyguards should not have to zerg to become effective, That's just terrible game design, a lone Skyguard should do enough to warrant it's use on it's own.

The skyguard is in an awkward position. A single skyguard can't do more than deter aircraft, which is boring and doesn't net you and exp. But if there are multiple, you can easily tear through aircraft all day, instantly winning air superiority. From a skyguard user's perspective, the fact that you can't get kills when you're going solo is frustrating. But from an air player's perspective, the fact that they will get shredded instantly if they decide to get close to a group of skyguards is also frustrating. Not only that, but simply getting turned away by a skyguard pecking at your health is annoying. Skyguards don't get kills by themselves, and air players are just forced to run off and repair. Boring for each side.

^ 100% agreed. The skyguard vs ESF is somewhat balanced even though it is quite annoying that ESFs can just switch bases if AA is pulled while the skyguard is stuck on the ground with a useless vehicle when air leaves.

Now concerning the liberator something really needs to be done, and i dont wanna hear the usual crappy lib cre excuses so im gonna answer to those before hand:

1-Teamwork, as in a liberator since it takes teamwork to operate should beat a skyguard that is manned by a single player. Bullsh1t, a 1/3 liberator can and will win against a skyguard any time in a 1 on 1 scenario and both 100% health.

2-It takes more people to be effective and to operate a lib. Bullsh1t yet again, a 1/3 liberator is quite powerfull on its on and number of players occuping a vehicle has never had anything to do with its power. If this ******** argument held any true a 3/3 harraser should beat 1/2 MBTs in any scenario, or a full sunder should beat 2/2 MBTs, both false.

3-Takes a great deal of skill to fly a lib. I agree with this one BUT it dosent take any skill to beat a skyguard in any 1 on 1 scenario and thats just wrong considering one is completely specialized in AA.

This is how a 1 on 1 between the 2 usually goes: liberator comes head on taking any and every shoot without bothering to dodge, gets in firing range of the skyguard (really dosent matter if with tankbuster or dalton), trade shots till the skyguard goes down.It is really this simple, the liberator is fast enough to close in the distance in a flash, can endure a hella lot more damage than the skyguard, and can also dish out a hella lot more damage a hella lot faster.

TL: Bottom line is if a lib has a good idea where you stand with a skyguard and there are no other sources of AA around your dead, you cant outrun it and you can win an endurance fight against it either.

LOL !!

the skyguard is my most feared thing when i am flying....

I play skyguard all the time. It's my favorite actually.

One thing that would make it more fun and potentially more survivable is to increase its groundspeed.

It probably won't make it anymore survivable since you'd be more likely to explode if you hit a big rock,
or flip it if you hit a little rock at full speed, but it would be nice to know I could at least try and run away from trouble.

It might make for a more interesting fight for the libs trying to swat this thing running all over the battlefield...

I will never understand these "buff skyguard" threads that keep popping up.

It melts an ESF. The pilot has to put quite a few hours into their vehicle before they're going to react fast enough and effectively when a skyguard opens up on them. With the little experience I have in a skyguard, I don't see an issue with the accuracy if the ESF was doing A2G. If they are higher up then it's a solid deterrent, and effective for assisting friendly air.

Lib woes? Get a buddy. 2 skyguards will ruin a lib's day. Throw in a lock on and that 350 air resource vehicle with 1-3 people in it won't even get a kill...

Anyway, this isn't any new knowledge. This is said in every one of these compliant threads.

I think the OP and some others could use a bit of perspective here. It takes less effort to bring an ESF from full to dead with a skyguard than anything else in the game. Seriously. Try getting in a fighter yourself and chasing someone down. Tell me the accuracy and velocity needs to be better on a skyguard after you shoot someone down with a rotary.

Fun fact: I've used the skyguard a handful of times. I have a measly 38 kills with it, and an average around 1 kill per minute. I've never purchased it. Only trials. A friend of mine got it in a bundle a while ago. It's astounding how much POWER we feel as 2 skyguards laying waste to the packs of ESFs and Liberators in the sky. The time and certs we've invested in A2A flying becomes a joke.

Yes, it needs to be upgraded. Now.

You lost in a 5 vs 1 engagement while having poor coordination. Naturally the gun you used it bad...

UPGRADE NOW!

Only really play skyguard and no it doesn't need a buff. I can easily clear a hex of 5 esf without having to take down any of them. People need to learn that aa is a big factor in the game. So many times I see outfits neglecting the roof of a tech plant in defense in favour of holding A then wondering why they can't get reinforcements from the spawn room.

A 3 lib force has 9 players in it. Give me a squad of 5 skyguards and the oppositions air wouldn't even be able to take off.

Remember 'a poor workman blames his tools.'

I feel dual burster MAXs are always a better anti-air decision than a skyguard, and that's just sad.[/quote]

MAXes are way too slow to use for AA anywhere but in base defense. If you need to move around and support a moving platoon, you're going to be wasting a lot of time.

i love my skyguard the way it is, don't ever want to see it changed

i'd like to see the turret sluggishness (is that the word? whatever simulates the barrel weight) reduced, that's all really.

Not only that, but the problem is compounded by the fact that once you "deter" the aircraft, you've basically just screwed yourself out of a job. When you chase off all the air your Skyguard becomes a 300 resource paperweight.

Yeah, and being reavers that means they are NC....just as likely to kill each other so they can have the Farm zone all to themselves....NC, atleast on Mattherson are just as busy shooting each other as they are the enemy...and in some cases..more busy shooting each other.

Idk, USA and Team was making them in WWII....ofc they were prolly pretty bad, but im sure by the year Planetside 2, we would have some rather nicely functioning ones.